It is very often difficult, if not impossible, for a person with a physical handicap to use a standard bathtub shower, Stroke victims, prosthetic leg users or other persons who have difficulty standing or walking tend to experience considerable problems maneuvering in the tub and operating the wall-mounted shower controls. Entering and leaving the tub and standing in position under the shower can also be quite annoying and inconvenient for these individuals. In many cases, a caretaker is required to assist the disabled person.
A number of bathtub seats have been developed to facilitate the use of bathtub showers by handicapped persons. However, most of these appliances are designed to be fixed in position within the tub. Known seats cannot be readily manipulated in the tub so that the user can conveniently operate the bathtub and shower controls from the seat. Instead, the user is typically limited to a single position within the tub. Shifting the position of the seat during showering is annoying, awkward and time consuming. Moreover, many of the known bathtub seats do not provide the disabled person with quick and convenient assess into and out of the tub. Accordingly, a nurse, family member or other caretaker is still usually needed to reposition the seat, operate the shower controls and otherwise help the user.
At least one known device, McCartney, U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,218, features a bathtub seat that may be adjusted to various positions along the length of a bathtub. However, that seat cannot be moved quickly and conveniently while the individual who is showering remains seated. Rather, the seat must be disengaged from a track and lifted from the tub each time the position of the seat is changed. The user first must get up from the seat in order to reposition the apparatus. Again, the assistance of another individual is usually required.